“I recently saw a woman at Walmart with March Madness teeth… She was down to the final four.” Risk-free, prepayment-free Treasury rates have approached, or gone below, four percent as the expectations have grown for a slowing U.S. economy (it doesn’t help the ag states that China has cut off buying our soybeans, for example) and therefore potential Fed cuts. Borrowers are certainly reacting to rates dropping, as capital markets staffs are dusting off their renegotiation policies and explaining early payoff penalties. According to Curinos’ new proprietary application index, refinances increased 36 percent week over week and increased 2 percent in February; the purchase index increased 19 percent week over week and decreased 6 percent for February as a whole. February 2025 funded mortgage volume increased 3 percent YoY and decreased 6 percent MoM. Curinos sources a statistically significant data set directly from lenders to produce these benchmark figures. (Today’s podcast can be found here and sponsored by Floify. Floify is an easy-to-configure point-of-sale platform that allows each branch or loan officer to customize its look and feel to meet the needs of their lending team, homebuyers, and market. Hear an Interview with Marr Labs Dave Grannan on how AI is being used to enhance customer interactions in mortgage lending, as well as the evolving role of human loan officers alongside AI, the challenges and successes of implementing AI Voice Agents, and how quickly lenders can adopt this technology.)